Child health · UKMLA & AKT
Herpes labialis (cold sores)
A free high-yield preview for the UKMLA Applied Knowledge Test, covering how to recognise this condition. The full SA Note notes add investigations, management and complications, with practice questions on this topic.
Key high-yield points
- Caused by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) - double-stranded DNA virus; latency established in the trigeminal ganglion
- HSV-1 = orolabial (cold sores); HSV-2 = primarily genital - either virus can infect either site, but HSV-1 is the answer for a painful lip lesion
- Reactivation triggers: UV light (most reproducible), febrile illness, stress, immunosuppression, trauma, menstruation
Syphilitic chancre (Treponema pallidum) is a PAINLESS ulcer - pain is the key discriminator favouring HSV.
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